Neiker-Tecnalia and Inkoa are leading a project to promote innovation throughout the value chain of the potato in East Africa
The promoting of the best and most innovative technologies to improve potato quality in East Africa is the aim of the project being led by the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development, Neiker-Tecnalia, and the agri-food company Inkoa. The initiative will be developed in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and will cover research across the whole value chain of this agricultural product. The programme will also be promoting economic and social development and will be contributing towards ensuring food security in East Africa. The project is scheduled to run for 2 years and has a budget of 976,000 euros, funded by the ACP (The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States) within the ACP-EU Co-operation Programme in Science and Technology (S&T II). Potato production in Sub-Saharan Africa has doubled since 1994 and has become an essential product for reducing hunger and extreme poverty. This development needs support to introduce the most innovative technologies and practices in order to obtain the highest potato yields. This is in fact the space that the Neiker-Tecnalia and Inkoa project is hoping to fill and which has three main target groups: research centres and government bodies involved in the potato; all the people participating in the value chain of this crop; and, finally, the government bodies with the capacity for policy development. Neiker-Tecnalia researchers and Inkoa professionals will be assessing the current position of the research in the matter of innovative potato technologies and practices in the five countries that are part of the programme. Once the current position has been assessed, Neiker-Tecnalia and Inkoa will be launching the ‘East Africa Potato Research and Knowledge Exchange Forum’. The most important bodies working on potato research in this part of Africa will be participating in this group and sharing experiences and knowledge; they include the Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP-International Potato Center), the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO). Apart from the research bodies, the project will be targeting all the people involved in the value chain of this food, from its cultivation right up to its distribution and sale to the public. These people include small farmers, processing companies and workers in national inspection services for agricultural products. The final target groups of the project are the government bodies with the capacity to formulate policies in the matter of the production and distribution of agricultural products. It is about promoting changes in the laws and regulations to encourage the applying of innovation and research throughout the value chain of the potato. In short, the project has set itself the aim of getting all the agents in the value chain to become familiar with and adopt the best technologies and the most innovative practices relating to the potato. Local African partners To implement this programme, Neiker-Tecnalia and Inkoa have local partners who will be responsible for applying the actions in each country. These bodies are the University of Nairobi in Kenya, the ARI-Uyole Agricultural Research Institute in Tanzania, the University of Makerere (MAK) in Uganda, and the Kigali Institute of Food Science and Technology (KIST) in Rwanda. The action has other collaborating partners like the Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP-International Potato Center), the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the National Potato Council of Kenya and the National Agricultural Research Organisation of Uganda, among others. The participation of these organisations will contribute in a significant way towards spreading the results and getting the recommendations for action to be applied by the competent authorities. It will also be used to promote the participation of all the parties involved in the value chain of the potato in East Africa.
Countries
Spain